joelfarm
01-10-2008, 06:17 PM
Posted January 10th, 2008 by ronpaulfan
Posted by mackler on RonPaulForums
Dear Friends,
Having spent the last few weeks in New Hampshire, I am quite disturbed by what I saw. I am sad and upset that we let the rest of the country down, and most especially that we let Dr. Paul down. I pray to God that enough people will learn from what went wrong there to do the right thing in other states. Here are some important lessons I wish to share:
1-5. Lesson One, is also lesson two through five:
Do not trust the official campaign operation. This is so important I will repeat it and repeat it.
Do not trust the official campaign.
I don't know if they are compromised or just incompetent. It really doesn't matter. The people working for the official campaign are not us. They are paid professionals hired to do a job. They leave work at 6 p.m. and go to the local bar and shoot the shit with the workers from the other campaigns. When this campaign is over they will go get another job. They are not quitting their jobs and going days without sleep and then sleeping on air mattresses when they finally do get some rest. They are not us. Do not trust them.
I also heard stories about people who had been called so many times by HQ that they voted against RP for being so annoying.
We've got as far as we have despite the official campaign, not because of it. If you think HQ is going to put you to good use on election day, you are wrong wrong wrong. In fact, if HQ asks you to do something on election day, you can be 90% certain that there is something better for you to be doing.
Here is my story. HQ told me they needed poll watchers. They gave me a list of names of supposed RP supporters and told me to go to a particular polling place and to stay there until the voting was over. and then to come to the big "victory" party.
Pretty quick it was an obvious waste of time. For one thing, there were four tables where people were checking in, so it was impossible to hear all the names. Second, the list they gave me was not in alphabetical order.
Obama had five people there: four taking names and one legal observer. The ones taking names left after noon.
Now think about the logic of this task. Supposedly the official campaign had people at a phone bank calling so many people that with the names I proveded of everyone who had voted already they would save time. I was there for ten hours and I crossed off about ten names from my list. You do the math. Ten hours to save ten phone calls? Please! Meanwhile, when I left, outside I saw people holding enormous signs fro the winning candidates, and one lonely RP supporter holding a little yard sign.
When I called HQ to ask them how late to stay they said until the polls closed. When I asked what good crossing off a name five minutes before the voting ended would do, I got a pause and then the response was "um, let me ask my boss." That was when I started to realize I was at best dealing with incompetent boobs who had barely thought this thing through. They are bureaucrats. They are afraid to stick their necks out. Afraid to get in trouble with their superiors. Do not trust the official campaign staff!!!
6. Do not trust the people running the polls.
I feel like a retard. We just assumed that if enough people voted for RP he would win. After the polls closed we all went to the "victory party." I wondered what the other candidates parties were like. The next day I found out:
The campaigns of the candidates who "won" had people stay at all the polling places until all the votes were counted.
Do you understand that? The votes are counted in a room full of people, none of whom will care if all of RP's ballots go into the trash. The polls are operated by the same kind of people who work to keep RP off of TV. If we want RP to win, we have to watch every poll until the votes are reported. Better yet, be a poll worker yourself.
Apparently no one at the the official HQ thought of this. Please see lessons 1-5. If you're working at a polling place, get there early, learn who is in charge, be friendly and introduce yourself. Then stay and watch the ballots be counted. Do not leave until the count is official. If we had done this at every polling place...shoulda-coulda-woulda!
7. Young people don't vote.
My polling place was next to a college. I could count on my hands and feet the number of college students who come in, and most voted democratic. Meanwhile, every doting, drooling, octogenarian whose heart had beat at least thrice in the preceding 24 hours was wheeled in and had a pen shoved into their hands to cast a vote.
Getting someone to say they support RP is not enough. You better get their name and number, and then drag them to the polls on election day. If they really support RP then they need to join the campaign effort to get more votes. That's what the winning campaigns did.
8. Many if not most people decide who to vote for when they get to the polls.
You may have trouble believing this, but I was amazed at how many people had to pause for thought when asked whether they wanted a Republican or Democratic ballot. I heard many people say, "ummm....oh I guess I'll take a democratic ballot. I really don't know who I'm voting for." I'm not making this up.
My point: if you're going to be at the polls, you may do a lot more good standing outside with a huge-ass RP sign than you will doing whatever jerk-off waste of time HQ assigns you to do.
9. Connect with the locals
We had hundreds of RP supporters come from all over the country. We were outsiders. The other campaigns activated networks of locals. They had locals working at the polls and talking to their neighbors.
If you're canvassing and you find an RP supporter, don't just assume we have their vote and move on. Get than person involved in the campaign. A local who is invested in an RP win will be many times more effective than an outsider.
Summary and Suggestions
A week ago I was sure we were going to win NH. I got 90% positive response while canvassing. I didn't see hardly any signs for the other candidates and we had way more volunteers on the ground. Then about three or four days before primary day everything changed. RP signs started disappearing and other candidates' signs started appearing. Large numbers of supporters for other candidates came out of nowhere.
Suggestion: plan a local sign blitz for two days before your state's primary/caucus. Having more signs out two weeks in advance looks cool, but it will be forgotten by the time the other campaigns activate.
Suggestion: think hard about how effective what you're doing is. Hoving fifty people at a sign-wave on a busy corner looks cool, but may not result in as many votes as collecting names for election day.
Suggestion: do not donate any more money to the official campaign. If you have money, spend it yourself. The official campaign hasn't figured out that running some of the youtube videos that got us all riled up will be more effective than running their P.O.S. "professional" ads. If we want effective TV ads, we are going to have to run them ourselves.
Suggestion: Make a website with a list of every polling place in your state and allow people to sign up to volunteer both inside and outside. This will allow us to make sure every location is covered without unnecessary duplication. People inside take off your RP buttons and keep your eyes on what's happening. People outside bring the biggest RP signs you can find. Try to get at least two RP supporters inside each location in case someone doesn't make it or isn't really an RP supporter. Make sure every location is covered, and do not rely on the official HQ to tell you where to be or what to do.
Once we have people working inside every location, we need volunteers to be outside every location holding huge signs and talking to every voter on their way in.
Most of us are doing this for the first time. Our enemies have done this over and over. They have networks and experience. If we don't start learning fast we will lose.
Posted by mackler on RonPaulForums
Dear Friends,
Having spent the last few weeks in New Hampshire, I am quite disturbed by what I saw. I am sad and upset that we let the rest of the country down, and most especially that we let Dr. Paul down. I pray to God that enough people will learn from what went wrong there to do the right thing in other states. Here are some important lessons I wish to share:
1-5. Lesson One, is also lesson two through five:
Do not trust the official campaign operation. This is so important I will repeat it and repeat it.
Do not trust the official campaign.
I don't know if they are compromised or just incompetent. It really doesn't matter. The people working for the official campaign are not us. They are paid professionals hired to do a job. They leave work at 6 p.m. and go to the local bar and shoot the shit with the workers from the other campaigns. When this campaign is over they will go get another job. They are not quitting their jobs and going days without sleep and then sleeping on air mattresses when they finally do get some rest. They are not us. Do not trust them.
I also heard stories about people who had been called so many times by HQ that they voted against RP for being so annoying.
We've got as far as we have despite the official campaign, not because of it. If you think HQ is going to put you to good use on election day, you are wrong wrong wrong. In fact, if HQ asks you to do something on election day, you can be 90% certain that there is something better for you to be doing.
Here is my story. HQ told me they needed poll watchers. They gave me a list of names of supposed RP supporters and told me to go to a particular polling place and to stay there until the voting was over. and then to come to the big "victory" party.
Pretty quick it was an obvious waste of time. For one thing, there were four tables where people were checking in, so it was impossible to hear all the names. Second, the list they gave me was not in alphabetical order.
Obama had five people there: four taking names and one legal observer. The ones taking names left after noon.
Now think about the logic of this task. Supposedly the official campaign had people at a phone bank calling so many people that with the names I proveded of everyone who had voted already they would save time. I was there for ten hours and I crossed off about ten names from my list. You do the math. Ten hours to save ten phone calls? Please! Meanwhile, when I left, outside I saw people holding enormous signs fro the winning candidates, and one lonely RP supporter holding a little yard sign.
When I called HQ to ask them how late to stay they said until the polls closed. When I asked what good crossing off a name five minutes before the voting ended would do, I got a pause and then the response was "um, let me ask my boss." That was when I started to realize I was at best dealing with incompetent boobs who had barely thought this thing through. They are bureaucrats. They are afraid to stick their necks out. Afraid to get in trouble with their superiors. Do not trust the official campaign staff!!!
6. Do not trust the people running the polls.
I feel like a retard. We just assumed that if enough people voted for RP he would win. After the polls closed we all went to the "victory party." I wondered what the other candidates parties were like. The next day I found out:
The campaigns of the candidates who "won" had people stay at all the polling places until all the votes were counted.
Do you understand that? The votes are counted in a room full of people, none of whom will care if all of RP's ballots go into the trash. The polls are operated by the same kind of people who work to keep RP off of TV. If we want RP to win, we have to watch every poll until the votes are reported. Better yet, be a poll worker yourself.
Apparently no one at the the official HQ thought of this. Please see lessons 1-5. If you're working at a polling place, get there early, learn who is in charge, be friendly and introduce yourself. Then stay and watch the ballots be counted. Do not leave until the count is official. If we had done this at every polling place...shoulda-coulda-woulda!
7. Young people don't vote.
My polling place was next to a college. I could count on my hands and feet the number of college students who come in, and most voted democratic. Meanwhile, every doting, drooling, octogenarian whose heart had beat at least thrice in the preceding 24 hours was wheeled in and had a pen shoved into their hands to cast a vote.
Getting someone to say they support RP is not enough. You better get their name and number, and then drag them to the polls on election day. If they really support RP then they need to join the campaign effort to get more votes. That's what the winning campaigns did.
8. Many if not most people decide who to vote for when they get to the polls.
You may have trouble believing this, but I was amazed at how many people had to pause for thought when asked whether they wanted a Republican or Democratic ballot. I heard many people say, "ummm....oh I guess I'll take a democratic ballot. I really don't know who I'm voting for." I'm not making this up.
My point: if you're going to be at the polls, you may do a lot more good standing outside with a huge-ass RP sign than you will doing whatever jerk-off waste of time HQ assigns you to do.
9. Connect with the locals
We had hundreds of RP supporters come from all over the country. We were outsiders. The other campaigns activated networks of locals. They had locals working at the polls and talking to their neighbors.
If you're canvassing and you find an RP supporter, don't just assume we have their vote and move on. Get than person involved in the campaign. A local who is invested in an RP win will be many times more effective than an outsider.
Summary and Suggestions
A week ago I was sure we were going to win NH. I got 90% positive response while canvassing. I didn't see hardly any signs for the other candidates and we had way more volunteers on the ground. Then about three or four days before primary day everything changed. RP signs started disappearing and other candidates' signs started appearing. Large numbers of supporters for other candidates came out of nowhere.
Suggestion: plan a local sign blitz for two days before your state's primary/caucus. Having more signs out two weeks in advance looks cool, but it will be forgotten by the time the other campaigns activate.
Suggestion: think hard about how effective what you're doing is. Hoving fifty people at a sign-wave on a busy corner looks cool, but may not result in as many votes as collecting names for election day.
Suggestion: do not donate any more money to the official campaign. If you have money, spend it yourself. The official campaign hasn't figured out that running some of the youtube videos that got us all riled up will be more effective than running their P.O.S. "professional" ads. If we want effective TV ads, we are going to have to run them ourselves.
Suggestion: Make a website with a list of every polling place in your state and allow people to sign up to volunteer both inside and outside. This will allow us to make sure every location is covered without unnecessary duplication. People inside take off your RP buttons and keep your eyes on what's happening. People outside bring the biggest RP signs you can find. Try to get at least two RP supporters inside each location in case someone doesn't make it or isn't really an RP supporter. Make sure every location is covered, and do not rely on the official HQ to tell you where to be or what to do.
Once we have people working inside every location, we need volunteers to be outside every location holding huge signs and talking to every voter on their way in.
Most of us are doing this for the first time. Our enemies have done this over and over. They have networks and experience. If we don't start learning fast we will lose.